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Functional Neuroimaging of Social and Nonsocial Cognitive Control in Autism

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Abstract

This study investigated cognitive control of social and nonsocial information in autism using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) and a neurotypical control group completed an oddball target detection task where target stimuli were either faces or nonsocial objects previously shown to be related to circumscribed interests in autism. The ASD group demonstrated relatively increased activation to social targets in right insular cortex and in left superior frontal gyrus and relatively decreased activation to nonsocial targets related to circumscribed interests in multiple frontostriatal brain regions. Findings suggest that frontostriatal recruitment during cognitive control in ASD is contingent on stimulus type, with increased activation for social stimuli and decreased activation for nonsocial stimuli related to circumscribed interests.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by R01 MH073402 (JWB and GSD), K23 MH081285 (GSD), and H325D070011 (AS). Assistance for this study was provided by the Participant Registry Core of the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (P30 HD03110). The authors thank Josh Bizzell, Chris Petty, Zoe Englander, and Todd Harshbarger for assistance with image analysis, MRI technologists Susan Music, Natalie Goutkin, and Luke Poole for assistance with data acquisition, and BIAC Director Dr. Allen Song for assistance with various aspects of this project. Finally, we gratefully acknowledge the participation of individuals with autism in this research.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Antoinette Sabatino & Gabriel S. Dichter

  2. Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, CB# 7255, Chapel Hill, NC, 27599-7255, USA

    Antoinette Sabatino, Alison Rittenberg, Lauren Turner-Brown & Gabriel S. Dichter

  3. School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX, USA

    Noah J. Sasson

  4. Departments of Hearing and Speech Sciences and Psychiatry, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA

    James W. Bodfish

  5. Department of Psychiatry, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, USA

    Lauren Turner-Brown & Gabriel S. Dichter

  6. Duke-UNC Brain Imaging and Analysis Center, Durham, NC, USA

    Gabriel S. Dichter

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  1. Antoinette Sabatino
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  2. Alison Rittenberg
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  3. Noah J. Sasson
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  4. Lauren Turner-Brown
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  6. Gabriel S. Dichter
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Correspondence to Antoinette Sabatino.

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Sabatino, A., Rittenberg, A., Sasson, N.J. et al. Functional Neuroimaging of Social and Nonsocial Cognitive Control in Autism. J Autism Dev Disord 43, 2903–2913 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-013-1837-4

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